I jetlaggedly woke up around 6am, did some morning routine and then went for a walk in Puebla hoping to get some breakfast. Well, I didn’t. Everything was closed till almost 9am. Today is also a COVID solidarity day by the government where shops had to close by law. I honestly didn’t understand this but didn’t care enough to research it either.
Puebla is said to be built in one of the oldest inhabited regions in the Americas. But it is built by the colonial Spanish. The history is intriguing, complicated and full of legends. It is also called the city of Angels. The cathedral is one of the biggest in Mexico.I walked the grid-shaped empty streets. They buildings in the historical center are one or two stories and are colourful with many beautiful architectural touches. I took some bad photos.
The market is always a colorful and interesting place to be. You see the locals dealing, negotiating and buying things that I didn’t know how they will cook. But it is a buzzing environment. I stopped at how they presented the fresh whole chicken with their heads dangling over the counter!!
My first though was that I am happy I am not a chicken. Then I remembered the German song that says “I wish I were a chicken 🐔”. It says: I wish I were a chicken and didn’t have much to do. I would put an egg everyday and two eggs on Sunday, hehehehe.
Next to Cholula, an adjacent town with an interesting history. It is also where my friend Aldo studied. Similar grid shaped historical center that connects the many churches. This town had so many pyramids among them the great pyramid of Cholula. It is said to be the biggest pyramid by volume in the world. As an Egyptian, I didn’t take this information wekcomingly and I became skeptical without any knowledge or truth-seeking attitude.
The Spanish came, they saw the pyramids and decided to build churches on top of each of them. To do that they enslaved the locals and killed them after they were done. This is why the locals took a looong time to finish the churches and revenged by making ugly angel statues. Well this all is a legend and probably most of it is not true. But this is just a fun blog not a history book, hehe.
It was said that there are 356 churches and the city has as many saints that are celebrated everyday. But this is not really true. They are less than 50. Most of them are now closed because of the pandemic. The streets are empty. I walked a bit then went to have a local Mole Poblano in Frida Kahlo Restaurant. The waitress met me at the door and told me “well, officially we are closed today by law, but I could have you in a hidden table from the backdoor”. I liked the evil illegality and went for it. She even did this evil hand gestures of opposing finger tips like a wave!
The mole Poblano was a nice piece of chicken covered with chocolatey sauce with sesame. It was delicious combined with a refreshing fresh maracuja-Mango juice.
With a full stomach I strolled a bit around Cholula and then went to see the nearby Volcano 🌋 visible from the city. The Popocatépetl. I took a bad photo of it, I leave you both mine and the internet photo as a reminder that real life is not perfect, hehe.
I went back back to Puebla for the night. Tomorrow I go Oaxaca.